Straitjacket Feeling

A/N: What? Another update so soon? I figured out I didn't have class on Monday, so I got to waste a bit more time today- lucky me. Somehow managed to sit down and type most of this up in one sitting- maybe neglecting other stories in the process, but it happens. You know, ever since adding another Espada was mentioned, I can't get the scenario out of my head now. And now I really want to do it, I don't think it'll do all too much to change the story now- seeing as I do it chapter by chapter for the moment- but it sure is entertaining as hell to think about; so far, in my head anyways, I've got a pretty good cover story for it, I just have to sit back and decide if I want to (which I kind of do). Also the same with bringing up Soifon's first child, that too is now set in my head. I guess we all just have to sit back and watch what happens next.

A slight roll of her body came with just a barely there fall as the faint reaction was enough to finally jolt her awake. Shaking her head lightly, she moved her hands to push aside her disheveled dark strands once more before she looked over to the still sleeping man next to her; he always had this look when he was sleeping that he looked more dead than alive- then again he had almost perfected the way of complete stillness even with his breathing. Sometimes it was frightening and other times it was more genius. As for now, she'd just prefer if he was awake with her. Pushing herself over to her side, she let her fingertips just lightly roll over his chest; watching as he seemed to twitch slightly at the touch alone before he settled back in. Fingers moved to run across his flesh once more before they slowly dragged themselves down to his abdomen; almost making it to the slight dip of his lower stomach before she stopped at the low yet elongated groan that escaped from the back of his throat. His hands moved to push underneath his glasses for a moment before they moved beneath him and lifted him up just a few inches to rest on his forearms. His eyes were still closed, which meant that he wasn't necessarily ready to be awake just yet.

"I'm ready to be conscious for a few hours now." she remarked; keeping one hand resting on his slightly curved stomach now as she curled her fingers in and out against his skin.

A light chuckle escaped him briefly before he moved to slowly claim the space above her; his hands sliding underneath her shoulders as he pressed his forehead against her own; keeping the rest of his body balanced with his knees as he was careful to avoid putting too much pressure on top of her. "Is that so? Well, what else are you ready for?" he teased; feeling the way her hands repositioned themselves to his chest now as they slowly moved up and down in a slow, calming motion.

"For a warm bath and for most of this to be over." she answered as she slowly pushed her hands up to cup his jawline; pulling him in a bit closer to her as she snuck in a soft brush of her lips against his own.

He moved to deepen the simple brush and pressed her back into the mattress below; getting in just one more tasteful embrace for the morning- or evening, whichever one it was currently. "I'd hate to say it but this whole matter hasn't really even gotten off the ground just yet. Give it a few more months and more time of development... I'm sure things are bound to get better from there."

"Do you really believe that?"

"Of course not, I just thought I'd try to add some kind of 'assurance' to the whole situation, as you can tell... my 'people' skills aren't quite up to the should be quota." he replied. "Although, in all honesty, I can't necessarily say that I could actually picture you in your later months."

Her fingers went to brush aside his hanging strands as she pushed them back for a moment; tucking them behind his ears only to watch as a few slipped free and fell back downwards. "Well, in all honesty, I'd imagine that the actual birthing process will be just like the purpose of your Gabriel Effect too."

"You're welcome." he started before feeling the back of her hand move across his face; it was more of a playful motion though and was hardly even felt. "What? I like to think that it could be used as experienced preparation."

"I highly doubt that giving birth is going to be the same as getting my body ripped open from the inside out." she remarked as she moved her hands to his shoulders and pushed him off to one side; now moving her own body over his as she rested on top of his waist. "Unless the child is going to be born under the influence of the same poison."

"Well as long as no one's there to stab them through the chest, I think everything will be fine." he countered; resting his hands on the curve of her wide hips. "Wait... how did this conversation start? And why are we even talking about this?"

"You started it." she reminded as she leaned back slightly and placed her hands on top of his own. "But, I suppose between the two of us, we should try to share that moment where this all started; how this happened in the first place."

"And why it's important now." he finished.

"... What if you had won that battle? What would you have done?"

The question was surprisingly easy for him to answer and yet, he decided to take his time with it as he found himself more entertained with playing with the wrinkles of her uniform; feeling the softness of the black material against his fingertips- although the fabric couldn't compare to how smooth her warm flesh felt as he slid his hands a bit lower to rest on her thighs. "It's simple really, I would've killed the three males and kept you as a hostage; although, there is a good possibility that this whole matter would've been repeated... under better terms though."

"Is that so? Why would you say that?"

"Well, first off, I didn't really employ psychotic people to work in my labs; I also didn't really hold hostages all too many times, I usually just killed them when I'm done. Just the same, the labs were purely isolated and there was just one entrance, so there would've been no need for a holding cell; if you wanted to walk about freely, you could've gone for it seeing as there would've been no chance for you to escape anyways."

Her hands moved down with his own as her fingers slowly intertwined with his; eventually pushing them down to the bed below as she slightly pinned them to the mattress. "Are you serious about that or just trying to protect me?"

"Why? Are you going to break my wrists if I'm lying?" he questioned with a light chuckle. "In all seriousness, who knows; thousands of possibilities, thousands of unopened doors that have already been destroyed by ongoing situations. It might as well be left in the past and allowed to be left to rot."

"Do you ever miss it?"

"Haven't you asked me that before?" he remarked. "Every few months that same question would come up and I'd give you the same answer."

"You always just told me that it wasn't important; that you had no connection to your previous life anyways." she answered. "That, as far as you were concerned, your memories only went back a few years at most and that was it. Is it still the same regardless?"

He felt the way she pulled his hands up with her own and pressed his palms against the flat of her sternum. " It's always going to be the same regardless." he moved to grasp lightly at her jawline before he pulled her down towards him; brushing his lips against her forehead for the brief moment. "Now come on, enough of this senseless chatter. The least we could do right now is to mark off the other obstacle on your list and get the bath water running. That is what you wanted, right?"

"I didn't think you'd remember." she spoke.

"Please, there's rarely a word from you that passes me by so easily." he replied as he moved his hands to lightly push her over to his side; swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he forced himself to his feet and gave into a brief stretch to relieve the tension in his back before he turned around to her; taking note that she seemed to be suited comfortably on her side with those deep green eyes of hers fixated on his own. "Come here, you." he reached over and lightly pulled her forward before he pulled her up into his arms; cradling her against his chest.

It seemed to be an unexplained occurrence but whenever he held her like this, that was when she felt the most relaxed, when she was at ease the most; maybe it was the scientific reaction to his scent or the more humanistic touch of his skin against her own... whichever took the blame, she enjoyed it most. Despite his somewhat cold and arrogant outer shell, he was always mindful to keep a careful touch around her and even now, he held her with assurance and confidence; maybe just a tiny bit of pride as well. After all, in the terminology of his species and of his mind, she belonged to him and so did the growing child inside of her. And no one was going to take that away from him.

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Alright, just remain calm and try not to seem panicked like you did something wrong- even though it's possible that you did.

Despite the small pep talk she tried to give herself, it didn't seem to be working all to well; she was already back in the Twelfth Division house though so... she didn't really have much else to run on now- no where else to hide about it either. She tried to fix her hair as best she could but well actually it didn't really look all too different than how it was before, maybe that little fact would be looked over.

She continued to readjust her uniform over again and again as she made her way down the corridors and tried to figure out where Captain Unohana was at the moment. She still felt... bad for suddenly having to up and leave after the they were done- even though he offered to clean up her office after their mess. It always just seemed like a masculine thing to just up and leave afterwards and yet here she was the one doing it. Maybe after this whole mess- or rather 'experiment', she could put in some time for a vacation and see if he wanted to follow with her. More than likely yes if he could get the time.

"Lieutenant Isane."

She looked up at the call and took note of the two figures just off in the distance. Alright, just remain calm and don't make anything obvious. She quickly headed over to the pair; expecting to catch up on the time lost. "Captain Unohana, I apologize for the wait; there was a minor situation and I was assisting Hanataro in handling it. Officer Yumichika also dropped by and-"

"It's alright, there's no need for an explanation." Unohana assured as she lightly interrupted the woman. "As long as you fixed whatever the situation was, that's fine by me. However, it appears as though another situation as arisen... one that is a bit more dire."

Isane paused for a brief moment and pressed her lips together in thought- as though hoping that she wouldn't have to ask and listen to the answer. However, sometimes things didn't always follow like that. "Why? Did something happen?"

"Two of the subjects from the first group came back positive." Akon answered. "They're undergoing some extra tests right now but we're planning on informing him of the matter sometime soon. He's expected to meet with them individually and we'll observe his reactions to each of them; see if there's any hint of aggression or rejection from him. If so, we'll handle the matter accordingly and keep the subjects here until full term; if not, then things will be worked out from there."

"Whoa, hang on, what?"

"We're going to go and speak to the two subjects; debrief them on the whole situation and bring them up to date on things happening and things that are to happen soon enough." Unohana started. "Will you take the news back to him while we're busy with this?"

Part of her said no, but she was in no position to say otherwise. "Alright, they're still in her room, correct?"

"Yes, last checked."

She nodded once more. "I'll start over there right now, will the names be necessary to know or-?"

"We're not releasing that data just yet, just inform him of what we've told you." Akon answered.

She was really, really going to hate this, wasn't she?

Watching as the two started off in one direction, she turned in the opposite and slowly started on her journey. She was really quite unsure of how to feel about this whole matter. At most, it was a mix of almost betrayal and a bit of sadness just the same. She felt terrible that they would be stuck here like prisoners- like this place was some kind of breeding center. But just the same, they did join in on this for their own reasons- although she wanted to say that some of it was due to the pressures from their Divisions. Regardless, there were several notes that some of them participated to... try and bring support to the Twelfth Lieutenant but it seemed to be doing the opposite of such; it was clear from several of her own observations that the Espada gave very little regard to anyone who wasn't her- he didn't seem to live anywhere else mindset wise away from her.

It sounded selfish though- she wasn't even supposed to know who was involved in this matter. Although... referring back to that list for the first group, who was on it again? Well, Kiyone was certainly crossed off for that; Captain Soifon was certain to have technically never even existed on that list; that left either Hinamori or Nanao- no wait, actually since there were two confirmed it would mean those were the only two left. Oh goodness, she could see this whole thing going down to the hellhole all very quickly. Silently, she wondered how Captain Shunsui would react to something like that.

She found herself staring at the bedroom door a lot quicker than she thought and hesitated to even open it; the thought of opening it was stomach cringing but it had to be done- she wasn't going to disobey Captain Unohana, especially since she came back after such an elongated break. Quietly easing the door open, she peeked slowly inside only to see nothing but an empty bed. Moving in a bit further, she continued to look around only to see the continuation of an empty room- so where could they be? "Nemu? Are you in here?"

"I'm in here."

She moved in towards the voice and made her way across the room; not even taking note of the loss of clothing in the doorway on the other end. She wasn't entirely sure why she didn't even question it or bother to knock when she pushed the partly opened bathroom door to its full extent. "There was a report I was supposed to- for the love of the Gods!"

She watched as the silver-haired Lieutenant instantly ducked out of the doorway and disappeared back into the bedroom outside. A light downturn caught the corner of her lips before she glanced back to the pink-haired man behind her. "What is it?"

He moved his hands out of the lingering heat of the bath water and moved them brush through her dark hair. "Don't look at me, you're the one who knows her best; if I had to make a guess though... she'd probably want to make a wish to respect our privacy or she's had enough of seeing us in situations like this."

"I suppose that is a matter to take care of." she nodded as she fitted her hands against the curved edges of the tub and slowly began to push herself up; feeling the way he offered his own hands to carefully help her to her feet. Fingers were quick to grab the nearest towel and wrap it around her midsection before she stepped out of the tub; resting her feet on the once dry tiles underneath. As much as she would've preferred to stay in the bath and continue to enjoy it with him... there seemed to be other matters that called for her attention. Making her way across the bathroom, she slowly stepped into the bedroom to see the back of the taller woman- her hands clearly resting over her face as she seemed to be taking in elongated breaths to calm herself. "What is it that you wanted to speak of?"

"Are you at least decently covered this time?"

"Well I have a towel on."

Isane slowly snuck a quick peek over her shoulder to see that the woman was telling the truth and was indeed covered- thankfully. She released a long sigh and turned back towards her. "Well, actually I was supposed to rely the report to him instead..."

She nodded slowly before she stepped aside. "He's still in there if you want to speak to him."

"Is he decently covered?"

"That is always questionable." Nemu answered; watching as the woman seemed to slowly move her way towards the still open doorway. It only took a brief second before she witness the woman seemingly flush red once more and quickly spin away.

"I'm going outside. When you two are finished here, then I'll speak to you."

The sudden departure of the woman left her mostly confused as she listened to the sharp crack of her bedroom door being slammed back closed. What on Earth... why would she come in here and then leave so suddenly while saying little to nothing else to them? It didn't make any sense. She glanced over as he appeared at her side, one shoulder partly leaning in against the door frame. "What did you do?"

"Whatever I did, it wasn't on purpose; a nice little announcement probably would've helped her sanity a bit." he answered. "If anything, she now knows that my natural hair color really is pink."

She shook her head lightly and stooped down to gather the remains of their clothing from before. "Just get dressed and see what she needs to tell you, seems like it's something important."

"I was thinking it was more of a waste of time, but to each their own." he shrugged before he took the clothes she pressed into his chest. "Alright, alright, why don't you go back and enjoy the bath water while it's still hot; I'm sure this won't take all too long."

"If you say so."

He watched her as she nodded lightly and continued back into the bathroom; dropping her towel along the way- and he almost considered never getting dressed in the first place and never going out to meet the woman. Well, maybe not never but it would be quite some time before he met with her again. Of course, there was always the cursed choice of choosing what you wanted and what was actually the correct choice. A long sigh escaped him as he eventually moved to finish drying himself off before he fitted himself back into his clothing from before; one hand moved to push through his hair and pull it back from his face as he went to greet the woman- regardless if she actually wanted to see him again.

Pulling the bedroom door open, he watched as the woman turned back before a slight look of disgust followed. "I apologize about that earlier... show. What was it that you needed to interrupt my time for?"

"Look, I really don't want to be the barer of bad news here but... from what I was told by both Captain Unohana and Officer Akon... it appears as though two of the subjects from the first group have reported back positive." Isane started, slowly at first as she waited to observe the man's facial expressions first. Nothing seemed to change as he kept the same rather stoic-like facade.

The following brief moment of silence that followed afterwards was just a bit worrisome.

"Is that it?" he questioned.

"What do you mean 'is that it?'" she replied back.

"Well... to be honest, the fact that you're interrupting our time with this manner of subject is just a tad bit irritating; if anything, I would've been more upset if you had to announce that in front of Lady Kurotsuchi." he started. "You more than likely got tricked into this process, so you're not entirely happy with it either; it's all a mix of conflicting emotions, isn't it?"

In that same state of honesty, she didn't entirely know what to say back to him; how to respond to such a casual remark. "I... do you even care that the whole hypothesis that you had been so certain about before is now just out the window? You've been proven wrong by not one, but two people here?"

A light chuckle escaped him at the remark as he moved to push up on his glasses. "You're right, that was not even close to the proper reaction however... I have my own reasons for doing so. By process of elimination though, those two confirmed would be Lieutenants of the Fifth and Eighth Division, correct?" he waited and watched as the woman slowly nodded in response. "I thought so, would it be too soon to request to meet one of them?"

"Uh well, they were planning on having you meet both of them individually but they didn't give me a set up time." Isane answered. "Why suddenly so enthusiastic about it?"

"It's all a personal mindset, it would be difficult to explain." he replied. "I imagine that they'll eventually come back here and drag me off once they set up a time. That does remind me, I would assume that you'd know, but when I do have to go speak to them... what's the name of the Eighth Lieutenant?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly at the question. "They didn't tell you her name?"

"It was one of those that even if I asked, she didn't have to answer so I didn't even bother." he replied. "But I'd like to make a proper introduction when I have to speak to her again; regardless of the situation, she still deserves that much level of respect, correct?"

"It's Nanao." Isane slowly replied. "Why just her though?"

"I already knew the name of the other one, not to mention, we just happened to have a lot in common with one another; she's the Eighth Lieutenant and that just happens to be my favorite number as well. I may have bonded with her just a little more than the other three."